Ground organic fuel

ABSTRACT

Organic fuel includes dried organic material ground to a particulate size of substantially less than 300 microns. The particulate material may advantageously be of less than or equal to 10 microns. The organic matter may be chosen from the group containing agricultural waste or wood waste, wherein the agricultural waste may include waste straw and wherein the wood waste may include bark.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

[0001] This application is a Continuation-in-Part of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 09/920,002 filed Jul. 31, 2001 which claimspriority from U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/221,889 filedJul. 31, 2000 entitled Ground Organic Fuel.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0002] This invention relates to fuel produced from drying and grindingorganic matter and in particular to dried organic matter which is groundand pulverized to micron particle sizes to form a combustible fuel.

BACKGROUND

[0003] In the prior art of which applicant is aware, organic fuels havebeen mixed with another fuel, for example, natural gas, fuel oil orother petroleum products to ensure combustion of the mixture. As anexample, applicant is aware of a wood waste fuel developed in Sweden andmarketed under the trademark Elenol. Applicant is also aware of U.S.Pat. No. 4,358,292 which issued to Battista on Nov. 9, 1982 forStabilized Hybrid Fuel Slurries which teaches extending petroleum fueloils by forming a slurry with mixtures having varying pre-embrittledcompositions of finely ground coal, particles of carbon black less thanone micron, finely ground newsprint, sawdusts, cellulose, and cleanorganic energy-rich waste materials. In the present invention, a non-oilfuel is produced from grinding and pulverizing non pre-embrittledmaterials which include the same raw material used to produce Elenol™ orhogged fuels, the difference being, again, in the present invention, theground material is not mixed with a petroleum or gas fuel product.

[0004] There are currently in use a number of methods to extract theuseable BTU's from waste wood, including the extraction of methane gas.True, the processes have been successful in extraction of the methanegas, which is subsequently burned in a jet turbine to produceelectricity. Unfortunately, a great deal of energy is consumed toextract methane and the remaining material is burned as charcoal, aninferior fuel.

[0005] After research into production of the non-oil fuel of the presentinvention from agricultural waste, applicant discovered that two poundsof such non-oil fuel equalled one pound of gasoline or kerosene in termsof BTU content. It was also found that the BTU content of one pound ofwheat straw was very similar to one pound of wood waste, approximately8,600 and 9,700 BTU. Research indicates that wheat and bark containapproximately 10,000 BTU per pound. This is to be compared to gasolineor kerosene, which contains approximately 19,000 BTU per pound.

[0006] All carbon based matter, whether straw, bark, wood, sugar caneetc., when ground to 10 microns, has the same specific gravity of 1.5.The specific gravity of water is 62.5 lbs per cubic foot, thus a cubicfoot of non-oil fuel weighs 93.75 lbs. All organic matter is composed ofroughly 48% carbon, 6% hydrogen, 43% oxygen, plus trace minerals andwater. Organic matter weighs differing amounts per cubic foot because ofthe number and size of airspaces within the material. For example, Balsawood weighs 10-12 lbs per cubic foot while Lignum Vitae weighs 70 lbsper cubic foot. However, when both are micronized, they will weigh 93.75lbs per cubic foot.

[0007] What follows is a comparison of the useable BTU in each. For thispurpose, calculations are based on a cubic meter (35.31 cubic feetequaling 1 cubic meter). Non-Oil Fuel - 10 Microns in size Kerosene jetfuel 93.75 lbs per cubic foot 50 lbs per cubic foot 10,000 BTU per lb19,000 BTU per lb 937,500 BTU per cubic foot 950,000 BTU per cubic foot33,103,125 BTU per cubic meter 33,544,500 BTU per cubic meter 98%burning efficiency 82% burning efficiency 32,441,062 useable BTU percubic meter 27,506,490 BTU per cubic meter 3,310 lbs per cubic meter1,765 lbs per cubic meter

[0008] Thus, non-oil fuel is a more economical fuel than jet fuel byapproximately 18% by volume. The current price of kerosene is $694.40per cubic meter in Canadian funds. Applicant estimates, at present daycosts, the maximum cost to produce non-oil fuel to be $20-$30 per cubicmeter Canadian.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0009] The non-oil fuel of the present invention may be produced withrelatively minimal cost and without the loss of any BTU. Moreimportantly, the burning efficiency of such non-oil fuel approximates 98percent, which compares favourably to the burning efficiency of bone-drywood at 80 percent. Although the non-oil fuel of the present inventionmay of course be combined with petroleum products in a slurry, the fuelof the present invention is not combined with any other fuel to producecombustion. Such non-oil fuel may be ignited by a spark or by a naturalgas pilot flame as an example. It has been applicant's experience thatcombusting the non-oil fuel of the present invention does not produceharmful emissions in the manner of fossil fuel combustion.

[0010] It may be possible to utilize the non-oil fuel of the presentinvention as a fuel for electrical generation depending on the fueldelivery system and ignition system in the electrical generator turbineengine. Applicant has noted that, because the non-oil fuel is finelyground, that when it is dry it tends to stick together.

[0011] In summary, the organic fuel of the present invention consists ofdried non pre-embrittled organic material ground to a particulate sizeof substantially less than 300 microns. The particulate material mayadvantageously be of less than or equal to 10 microns. The organicmatter may be chosen from the group containing agricultural waste orwood waste, wherein the agricultural waste may include waste straw andwherein the wood waste may include bark.

[0012] The method of producing the organic fuel of the present inventionincludes the steps of drying non pre-embrittled organic material andgrinding or otherwise pulverizing (hereinafter generically referred toas grinding) the organic material into particulate form having aparticulate size of substantially 300 microns or less. The method mayinclude the step of grinding the organic material so as to formparticulate sizes of less than or equal to 10 microns. Again, theorganic material may include agricultural or wood waste, although thisis not intended to be limiting but, rather, illustrative of carbon-basedmaterial including carbon-based waste material.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

[0013] The non-oil fuel of the present invention is produced by drying,grinding and pulverizing organic matter to produce particles having asize of less than 300 microns, and in one preferred embodiment, lessthan 10 microns. The organic matter may be any organic matter, includingalthough not limited to, agricultural waste such as wheat straw, woodwaste, bark, so long as it may be dried, ground and pulverized into afine powder.

[0014] As stated above, the non-oil fuel of the present invention mayalso be combined with petroleum fuels for example as a slurry withkerosene. It has been applicant's determination that in such anembodiment the non-oil fuel of the present invention can represent atleast 75 percent of the combined volume of the fuel. It has also beenapplicant's observation that micronized non-oil fuel of the presentinvention weighs more than kerosene by a ratio of 1.88. Applicant'scalculations indicate that, for the same volume of non-oil fuel ascompared to kerosene or gas, non-oil fuel has more useable BTU contentthan either kerosene or gas. It has also been applicant's observationthat when mixed with kerosene, the micronized non-oil fuel of thepresent invention flows as a fluid without particulate adhesion, thatis, the particles of the non-oil fuel do not cling together.

[0015] It is applicant's belief that the non-oil fuel of the presentinvention may be used as a fuel as a substitute for petroleum productfuels. As compared to such petroleum product fuels, the cost of thenon-oil fuel of the present invention is negligible in that it turnsorganic waste into fuel. This also presents the advantage that, by usingorganic waste as fuel, conventional waste disposal problems areeliminated or at least reduced. So too, the pollution produced byburning fossil fuels is also either eliminated or reduced. It has beenapplicant's observation that the by-products left from the burning ofthe non-oil fuel of the present invention are water vapour, and ash, thelatter component being reduced to between 0.02 and 0.08 percentage ofthe original volume of the fuel. Applicant has had success in ignitionof flour particles entrained in a stream of air. Once such a stream wasignited, it proved to be self-perpetuating. The dry flour particles werefed from a hopper by the use of an auger which emptied into a stream ofair propelled under pressure at about 6 psi. Applicant observed thatonce the stream was initially ignited, the flame continued to burn andappeared to be reasonably pure so as to indicate nearly completecombustion of the particulate material of the non-oil or organic fuel.

[0016] As will be apparent to those skilled in the art in the light ofthe foregoing disclosure, many alterations and modifications arepossible in the practice of this invention without departing from thespirit or scope thereof. Accordingly, the scope of the invention is tobe construed in accordance with the substance defined by the followingclaims.

What is claimed is:
 1. An organic fuel consisting of dried nonpre-embrittled organic material ground to a particulate size ofsubstantially less than 300 microns.
 2. The organic fuel of claim 1wherein said particulate material is of less than or equal to 10microns.
 3. The organic fuel of claim 1 wherein said organic matter ischosen from the group containing agricultural waste or wood waste. 4.The organic fuel of claim 3 wherein said agricultural waste includeswaste straw and wherein said wood waste includes bark.
 5. A method ofproducing organic fuel consisting of the steps of: (a) drying nonpre-embrittled organic material, (b) grinding said non pre-embrittledorganic material into particulate form having a particulate size ofsubstantially 300 microns or less.
 6. The method of claim 5 furthercomprising the step of grinding said organic material so as to formparticulate sizes of less than or equal to 10 microns.
 7. The method ofclaim 5 wherein said organic material is agricultural waste.
 8. Themethod of claim 5 wherein said organic material is wood waste.